Elven Lembas Bread

For those who don't know, lembas is a special bread made by the elves of the Lord of the Rings series. It's shaped into thin cakes and because of its filling nature it's usually used for sustenance on long journeys. Generally wrapped in Mallorn leaves, not much else is known about the ingredients. The bread is supposed to be brown on the outside and cream colored on the inside, sort of like a flat bread, and tastier than most other cakes in Middle-Earth. You can find a template for mallorn leaves and a alternate recipe here. These would probably make great party hors d'oeuvres if you're nerdy enough to have a LoTR themed party. Which you probably are. Dork.

Put the eggs, butter, honey, kumquats, rose or orange flower water, and nuts in a food processor or blender. Blend on high for 2-4 minutes. Add 1 cup of the flour. Blend for a minute or two. Put mixture into a bowl and add the remaining flour and the salt. Whisk or stir until well blended. Bake a small amount of dough (about two tablespoons) at a time on a pizzelle or iron about 15 seconds or until lightly brown, for a flat bread like texture. They can also be baked at 350 degrees for about 10-15 minutes. Wrap in a leaf and tie with a string!

Made these for my son's school project. I kneaded the dough with additional flour until it was not sticky. Rolled and cut the dough, brushed it with melted butter. Baked it on parchment for 10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. They were great, nice flavor. The texture is a cross between a cookie and a biscuit. Thanks for the recipe.

I swear if I ever have enough time on my hands I'm so having a fantasy food party. Between Lord of the Rings, Narnia, and Harry Potter (the latter of which initially drew me to this blog haha. I'm having a Quidditch party with HP Food, obviously. The butterbeer recipe looks like one of the better ones I've seen!)I never even thought about Lembas Bread or Turkish Delight [although I've had the latter before...it's rather good haha.] This is a very amusing blog for a fellow geek, I really appreciate it! Good luck with all future geeky endeavours, and know that there are many more of us out here!! =]Ná Elbereth veria le, ná elenath dín síla erin rád o chuil lín. :)

I made my first attempt at lembas bread using a skillet scones recipe and subbing in some cornmeal (since my boyfriend was the recipient, and he always imagines lembas as a sweet, dense cornbread) and topped with honey.

This version sounds to die for, though, and my rosewater has gone unused for a while. Though I don't know how easy it would be for me to find kumquats at the moment...

:D I'm about to make these - very excited - and just noticed that there's no instruction for the melted butter. Comments before mine give some clue and I'm sure it'll still come out tasty no matter what I do with it, but what did you do with it?

guess what! I am having a nerdy LoTR dinner party this Saturday. The entire menu is based around recipes adapted from the book. My Middle Earth Menu! These leaf-wrpped waybread will be perfect! Costumes, decorations, lighting and food... can't wait to get my nerd on!

I am doing a LOTR marathon...with the blueray extended editions...I am personally making, from scratch, all 7 Hobbit meals, with foods inspired by the LOTR culture. I am going to try my hand at lembas bread....I am going to try the apricots(no kumquats)...hope it goes well, thanks for the recipe!

I thought cram was from Lord of the Rings? Eaten in The Hobbit, mentioned offhandedly by Gimli in Fellowship of the Ring? At least I think that is the kind they meant because this post is about lembas, making cram the next logical step. But it was described as not tasting very good...

I usually get couple of those small limes that you find in baskets at the grocery store near the beer. I use their juice and call it a day. Kumquats are a citrus-y fruit, so I figure that the lime juice gives you the citrus bite, even if it is not the same flavor. I have done this with both the orange flower water and the rose water. It tastes better with the orange flower water, but still tastes good with the rose water.

i think i will try this. yeah i am a nerd (is a nerd and geek different?) so i will definitely try this, although i probably wont be having a LOTR themed party anytime soon lol, i could just make them for myself.

i came here when i googled "Elvish food" i found a website called CouncilofElrond.com where there are a LOT of Middle-Earth inspired recipes :) and the Elvish ones look great but i decided to see what other recipes on other sites were. this one looks good, i wonder if i had my mom try one of these what she would think. lol she would never guess its from LOTR cause she never read the books or watched the movies.

I think this recipe is awesome! going to see the hobbit premiere with some friends (in costume of course), and am definitely making these.I was just wondering what you used to wrap the lembas in? (the other site said to use a foam, could you use a type of paper?)thanks!

You could actually, instead of using foam/paper/whatever, use real leaves. bamboo leaves that my grandmother uses to make zongzi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zongzi) may not have the same exact pattern, but at least it's a leaf.

Yeah, do you use the whole kumquats, or just the juice? And when do you add in the butter? I would very much like to make these but I don't want to mess it up. (Also, just an fyi for people, kumquats have seeds that you should remove before eating.)

You can use the whole kumquats. Kumquats do not have to be deseeded if they are fully ripe, they can be eaten whole. The peel is much sweeter and less bitter than the orange or lemon peel, and adds a lot of citrus flavor to pastries.

I have been wanting so badly to know what this stuff would taste and feel like ever since I was real little.I kinda thought it would taste and feel like bread in MRE's, since that was my only basis for comparison. I can't wait to try it!

Your site is just amazing. I've been cooking as a hobby for a long time and loved your creativity and references. I came by looking for ideas on Laura Moon's chili and ended up reading a lot more! I'm posting in Lembas Bread just to share that I've always thought of it as something similar to a Panforte, wich I tried during a trip to Italy. I believe your recipe goes on that direction... thinking about using some dried fruits on this and maybe a little of whole flour. I'm brazilian so I apologize for any mistakes :)

As much as I hate chocolate, it is the human food most similar in properties to Lembas bread (when they were exploring the North Pole they brought chocolate as the main calorie source, as well as it generally being a military ration due to these properties) so I was really expecting to find some chocolate here.

Has anyone tried this recipe as a means of survival? I am curious if it works.

I haven't made this but I would want it to be very dense and VERY crisp. When they bite pieces off in the movies it's most definitely NOT a biscuit or cake or any other such soft texture. It should be closer to old fashioned pioneer hardtack or hard salt sea biscuits.

Greetings from Idaho! I’m bored at work so I decided to browse your blog on my iphone during lunch break. I love the info you provide here and can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, excellent blog!

I just tried this recipe and they turned out great :) I used orange zest as suggested and switched rosewater with 1 ½ tea spoon vanilla powder. I also added more floor until I could properly shape them. Thanks :D

Tried these and they were awesome! I did substitute cranberries and orange zest for the kumquots and orange flower/rose water. Thanks for the recipe!http://geekinkitchen.blogspot.com/2014/02/one-small-bite-geek-recipe-highlight-1.html

Could you make a recipe for Cram, or a recommendation for a close substitute?Also, what kind of leaves do you recommend wrapping them in? The only common thing large enough in my area would be Hickory, but I fear the taste might rub off.

You could use almond flour or something, but elves are certainly not Paleo. In the Silmarillion they grown wheat, corn and all sorts of things. http://www.silmarillionwritersguild.org/reference/linguistic_foolery/elven_food.php

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